Miley Cyrus Bangerz Tour – March 31, 2014 (Toronto, Air Canada Centre)

Concert: 4/5

Merch: 3/5

Encore: 5/5

With all of the hype surrounding Miley Cyrus and her antics on tour, I was super pumped to see and judge it for myself – and boy, did the Bangerz tour live up to expectations.

Walking into the Air Canada Centre, I was faced with a ton of annoying, young teenagers – girls, specifically – decked out thick, fake gold jewellery,  plaid shirts wrapped around waists, a few onesies, and a countless number of Miley’s signature hair nubs. Dressed in a leather jacket, jeans, and combat boots, I felt a bit out of place, which I didn’t expect I’d feel. I also didn’t expect to feel so old? I mean, there was no line at any of the bars which was surprising, and many teens were accompanied with their parents, all of whom definitely didn’t look excited to be there.

We climbed up the 300 section, beer in hand, all the way to the very last row of the Air Canada Centre. You could say it was quite The Climb if you ask me! (wow worst song reference…). Icona Pop opened up the show promptly at 7pm and I was probably just as excited to see the pop duo as I was to see Miley. They did an excellent job pumping up the crowd considering their set was only half an hour, and with their last song being I Love It, the crowd was on their feet and ready for Miley. I definitely suggest you check out their newest album, This is…Icona Pop if you haven’t already!

I felt that the energy really died following up Icona Pop because Miley Cyrus didn’t start until 8:20 (she was supposed to start at 8). If she had started closer to the end of Icona Pop’s set I think the energy would have lasted a lot longer. I could feel the growing restlessness of the crowd as time dragged on, and as the time struck 8 they started chanting ‘Miley, Miley!’ in hopes that she would hurry her twerking-ass up. I was told by a group of girls at the bar that Miley was late because she was too drunk/high/whatever to perform at 8, but I doubt this was the case as no one can really sober up in 20 minutes.

When the lights finally went dark, the screaming from the fans was deafening but in the best way possible. I’ve been to a ton of concerts in the past and the noise by this crowd was definitely the loudest. A giant picture of her face appeared on the massive projector screen at the back of the stage, and then suddenly her mouth started to open. An enormous inflatable tongue started rolling out of the screen and onto the stage, and Miley could be seen at the top. The crowd only got louder. With a slide down her giant tongue, she started into the title track, SMS (Bangerz), and with that one of the most exciting concerts I’ve seen  had begun.

Following her opening act she went right into 4×4 and then Love, Money, Party, where she came out atop a giant gold car while money flew around her. I’d like to say I was surprised, but with all of the crazy stuff she had been doing before her album released, it was pretty much expected. And it was fabulous – I was entranced by her performance. She not only captivated the entire sold-out arena, but she also sang every song completely live, which I thought was amazing considering the amount of tongue-wagging, dry humping, and twerking she was doing throughout the concert.

By far the most controversial set design was for #GETITRIGHT, which was just a massive blue and pink-coloured bed placed at the front of the stage. It featured Miley, sprawled out on the bed, essentially being groped by her male and female dancers, who would appear out of the sheets one at a time as the song rolled on. Honestly, in my opinion, she toned down this part of her concert compared when she first launched her tour. From reviews that I had read, it seemed like a very sexual performance, but I didn’t really get that vibe. It was more of a fun atmosphere rather than a sexual one and just played off of the lyrics to the song. This was probably played up by the cartoon-like designs playing on the projector at the back of the stage, but I think in general she took out a lot of the sexual stuff she did during her first few shows, including (disappointingly?) the Bill Clinton impersonator receiving a mock blowjob from Miley during Party in the U.S.A.

About midway through the show she toned it down a bit and appeared on a mini stage on the other half of the arena where she sang acoustic covers of some of her favourite artists. From reading reviews of past concerts I know she mixes this part up a bit in terms of song choice, but last night’s highlights were The Scientist by Coldplay and Summertime Sadness by Lana del Rey. It was most apparent here that Miley can definitely sing. If there is one thing I can take away from this concert, it is that I shouldn’t underestimate her prowess as a singer.

Following her calmer section of the show she once again got into her more upbeat hits, including 23, her song with Mike Will Made It. Her last song before what I felt was her encore performance was Someone Else, my favourite song off of Bangerz. It was during this performance that, clad in a giant yellow fur coat, she climbed atop a giant hot dog and rode it in the air above the audience. From there she rode the hot dog into the opening projector screen, and the stage went completely black, signifying the end to the main portion of her concert.

Hands down the best part of the concert was her encore performance which, in my opinion, included her most popular hits. She started into We Can’t Stop, her first single from her newest album, and the screams were so loud from the audience singing along that I almost couldn’t hear Miley. Following this she went right into Wrecking Ball, which I belted out as loud as I possibly could. It is 100% the best song to sing to from her album. Her closing number was arguably her biggest hit, Party in the U.S.A. Dancers were dressed up as variety of famous American monuments, including the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell, and the concert ended with red, white, and blue coloured fireworks and a ton of confetti. I always thought it would have been super witty of her to change the U.S.A. part of her song to G.T.A. considering we were in Toronto and it was definitely a party, but she didn’t, which was slightly disappointing. Definitely a missed opportunity!

Let me just take a second to say that her backup dancers were phenomenal. I’ve heard a lot of backlash regarding her choice in dancers as a lot of people felt she chose visibly ‘different’ dancers in an attempt to play up her new, crazy image. This backlash is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. It shouldn’t matter what her dancers look like as long as they do a great job, and they definitely accomplished this. During Miley’s numerous outfit changes they were given the task of keeping the crowd hyped and lived up to the task. I never felt that Miley’s big personality was missing on stage during the outfit changes, which really says something about the pull that the dancers had on the audience.

Just a note on the merch: It was super expensive ($50 for a t-shirt). Most of her stuff just had a giant picture of her face on it, and it wasn’t all that exciting, especially when the price was as high as her audience seemed to be, judging by the clouds of smoke permeating the air during the concert. So, unfortunately, I didn’t buy anything though I really wanted to.

Overall, I thought that the concert was amazing. It lived up to all of the hype (which rarely happens), and I had a great time despite being in the very back row. The only thing I would change would be the order of the songs. Normally at concerts one of the first four songs is a BIG hit as the media is only allowed to technically photograph one of the first four acts in the designated media section of the concert at the front.  I thought that her set-list was really bottom-heavy; by this I mean that she saved all of her ‘best’ songs until the end which, though exciting, felt like a lot to handle.

All in all, Miley definitely twerked her way into my heart and I will 100% be seeing her again.